Creating value using public big data: comparison of driving factors from the provider's perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe revitalization of big data has gained attention in the public sector. However, such open government data (OGD) is facing major challenges with respect to data quality and limited use. To solve this problem, this study analyzes the factors driving the use of OGD from the perspective of data providers in the public sector.Design/methodology/approachUsing the analytic hierarchy process and analytic network process methodologies, the importance of the factors driving the use of big data in the public sector was ranked. In addition, the different characteristics of tasks among the departments in a public agency were compared based on expert interviews.FindingsThe factors driving OGD use are not only political environment or the technological environment. The importance of the institutional culture within the organization increases with the motivation of the data provider. The priorities of the OGD factors also depend on the objectives of the department involved.Originality/valueThis study provides implications for improving the publication of open data by analyzing the priorities of the factors driving its use from the perspective of big data providers. It focuses on different perceptions of the factors valued by public officials in charge of data in institutions. The results suggest the need to explore officials' perceptions of value creation in big data fields.

Open Government Data Use by the Public Sector - an Overview of its Benefits, Barriers, Drivers, and Enablers

“…Literature reviews [6], [3], [24], [4], [36] Conference and journal articles [15], [10], [1], [12], [43], [44], [13], [19], [5], [35], [29], [31], [34], [27], [16], [30], [7], [8], [21], [11], [25], [9], [20], [28], [17], [22], [33], [32], [18], [23], [14], [42], [26] Barriers [15], [1], [12] , [10], [13], [19], [5], [35], [29], [31], [34], [27], [16],…”

“…There is no budget, no financial resources to use open data [1], [19], [36], [32] Cost to hire people able to use open data is very high [19], [20], [13], [21], [16], [5] Organizational and institutional Upper management does not support open data use [21], [36] The organizational structure does not support open data use [19], [11], [20], [24], [32] The organization is not interested in using open data [1], [19], [11], [25], [24], [28], [23] The organization does not have the organizational capabilities, routines, and processes to use open data [1], [19], [13], [36] Low engagement of public managers with the use of open data [11], [20], [36] Lack of non-financial resources (time, equipment, etc.) to use open data [1], [19], [13] There is no definition of competencies for the use of open data [32] Category Barriers There are no human resources with the knowledge, skills and/or capabilities to use open data [1], [19], [21], [24], [22], [23], [36], [32]...…”

“…Pressure from external stakeholders to use open data [21] Raise OGD use awareness [34] Policy and legal Existence of public policies of open data [24], [20] Existence of laws governing the use of open data [25], [21] Existence of regulations, standards, and standards for using open data [24] Economic and financial Existence financial resources have a significant positive influence on open data success [17] Organizational and institutional Open data use is institutionalized in the Administration [30], [24], [17] Operational and technical Provision of proper OGD infrastructure [24] Data available in user-friendly formats [31] Data search facilities available [31] Existence of historical data [29] Existence of metadata [31] Possible to share data via social media [31] Provision of data suggested by users [29] The following section briefly summarizes findings specific to the public sector. It presents our conclusions and suggestions for future research.…”

“…Thus, to remove and ease barriers, researchers investigated and proposed enablers [4], [11], [12], and drivers [17], [21], [24]. External factors, such as pressure from international organizations to use OGD [21] and the existence of public open data policy, laws, and standards [24], [20], [25] compel administrations to use OGD. Others, such as favorable open data culture [4], [20], enable users to overcome corresponding barriers.…”

“…In the niche of studies adopting novel approaches, Gebre & Morales [35] investigated the nature of context-related information provided with the datasets from Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) and identified the challenges users reported. In contrast, Cho & Lee [25] examined the factors driving the use of OGD from data providers' perspectives in the public sector to improve data publication. Smith and Sandberg [18] explored how innovation barriers affect OGD use in different ITIL service life cycle phases.…”